Prayer is how we communicate with God.
We pray because we trust God, want to follow God’s way, and depend on God for guidance, strength and comfort. Jesus prayed often and taught his followers to do the same.
There are many ways to pray, and it’s good to experiment to find a way that suits you. Praying doesn’t have to include words, it might involve artwork, meditation, or even crying or screaming! The main thing is to spend time with God, as you are, like you would spend time with a friend. This might be silent companionship, a good chat, or something physical or creative.
You should pray however feels natural to you, but it’s also good to try something different and see what happens.
What does prayer include?
There isn’t one set formula for prayer, it’s all about you and God. But some elements are often included:
- Adoration – praising God for who God is.
- Confession – telling God about the times we’ve messed up and seeking forgiveness.
- Intercession – praying for other people we know, or for world events and strangers affected by them.
- Petition – asking for our own needs.
- Thanksgiving – giving thanks for God’s gifts.
- Meditation – reflecting quietly and resting in God’s presence.
Does God hear our prayers?
God always hears our prayers. Answers may not come immediately or in the way we expect. Sometimes we do not recognise the answer, or God may use us to answer our own prayers or those of others.
Our small group course, Sunshine and Showers: Prayer’s Beautiful Messiness, explores this in more detail.
The Lord’s Prayer
Jesus gave us the prayer we call the Lord’s Prayer. It is both a prayer to use and a model for our own prayers. Some people say it regularly, others use it as a jumping off point to think about what the words mean for us, personally, in this moment.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.
Amen.
Praying in the name of Christ
To pray in the name of Christ means to pray with his authority, as people whom God has saved and brought close through Jesus. It also means that what we ask for should be in line with Christ’s will – what Jesus himself would want for us. When we pray in his name, we trust that our requests are shaped by his love and purpose, and we submit them to that test.
For more information on praying visit the Prayer Hub.
Who knows / controls the future?
Methodists believe that God knows and loves us completely and the future is held in this knowledge and love, rather than being determined by luck, fate, or anything else. Alongside this, we also believe that humans have real freedom and responsibility over our lives (‘free will’) so our lives are affected by both our, and other people’s, choices. Some Methodists may enjoy horoscopes, seeing them as light entertainment, whereas others may avoid them, seeing them as not relying on God but something else.
Ideas, such as karma, manifesting, and destiny have different origins, but they all touch on the same theme: seeking meaning and understanding the consequences of our actions. Karma, for example, is a concept found in many Indian religions, such as Hinduism. It is about cause and effect, believing that someone’s intentions and actions (cause) will affect their future (effect).
A question we may ask ourselves is, “What are we relying on to guide our lives?”. For Christians, the best guidance is always found in Jesus. Christians have faith that following God’s desire for us and the world will lead to a better future. However, we don’t believe that bad things happen because someone has been ‘bad’ or good because they have been ‘good’. We are all in need of God’s love and God offers it to us all. Free will means that we have the choice to do good or bad.
While some Christians talk about ‘prophecy’, this must be treated careful. It could be that some people are very good at noticing patterns and can work things out intuitively, having a strong instinct or ‘premonition’ that something is wrong. The Bible does record accounts of future events being revealed to people and some Methodists testify to similar experiences. It’s important to discern what is being thought and felt, and what the ‘premonitions’ are about.
Methodists often see prophecy being less about the future and more about speaking truth to power. Prophetic words might encourage people, promote justice, or present warnings, but they always bring people closer to God’s love.
Our focus should be discerning what God is doing in the world and how we can join in with that.